Weight and Measure
by wneleh
Summary: Would Celise be safe with these people? A missing scene for 'Tracker' 5x09 .


Standards disclaimers apply.

Weight and Measure

by Helen W.

_During 'The Tracker,' a bit after the fight in which we learn Keller's got game…_

Kiryk carried Celise close as they paralleled the main cart trail leading to the ring of the ancestors.

They walked steadily and mostly silently. The larger of the two men from Atlantis, Ronon, took the lead, his attention focused outward and above, while the smaller - the one Dr. Keller called Rodney and Ronon called McKay - let himself become utterly absorbed in tinkering with the now-inoperable jump device, which indicated either foolishness or great faith in Ronon and, perhaps, Dr. Keller. Dr. Keller altered her attention between Celise, the forest, and her male compatriots, both of whom she had obvious affection for.

Would Celise be safe with these people?

When he'd thought Dr. Keller's electrical device might kill him, he'd extracted her word that she would care well for Celise, with little consideration of the doctor's character. But he'd been desperate.

Ronon had said, 'We're gonna get you out of this -- both of you,' but Kiryk couldn't believe that either of these men could allow him access to Atlantis, when they knew nothing about him. No, they would take Celise, just Celise.

The undergrowth was not dense enough to be a serious hindrance. But there were low branches he had to duck under or shoulder aside, and the placement of each step was complicated by crisscrossing root systems and the general detritus a mature forest produced. It was not easy terrain to carry a child over, and Kiryk found his pace slowing gradually.

"Would you like me to take her?"

It was an unexpected offer to come from the smaller of the men.

"I've got her," he replied.

"You've been carrying her for almost an hour," said the man. He waved the jump device. "I've been trying to figure this thing out, but with the shadows coming and going it's giving me a headache."

For an instant, Kiryk was tempted. But this might be the last time he ever carried Celise; he could go a bit further.

"That's a nice thing to offer, Rodney," said Dr. Keller, and Kiryk wondered if he'd only done so to impress her. In the year he'd been a runner, he'd lost so much of his sense of others.

"So you made some pretty vicious Wraith-killers," said Dr. Keller, and it took Kiryk a moment to realize she was addressing him. But then she said, "What'd you think of them, Rodney?"

"I thought I was toast - or, rather, a shish-ka-bob," said the man, and Dr. Keller laughed. Was her interest in Rodney merely an expression of friendship, or of their working relationship, or was something more at play?

Though silence was probably safest, given the threats the forest held, he hazarded, "I used to make all sorts of machinery, before."

"Mechanical engineer, eh?" said the man. "One of my PhDs is in emm eee, actually. The other's in physics. Which is why things like this…" and he waved the device "…make my day. If I could reverse-engineer…"

So Atlantans, if you started them talking, didn't stop. He supposed he should have realized this from Dr. Keller.

Some Atlantans. Ronon stayed silent.

"So you designed stuff for a living?" Dr. Keller asked. "What sorts?"

"No, building things was my hobby," he explained. "My role in society was to inspect the devices of others. For safety, and to ensure they fundamentally operated as their makers said they would, if they were sold in market. So I gained familiarity with a number of methods of construction."

"My god, we've picked up a hall monitor," said the man, and Dr. Keller laughed.

"In fact, Monitor was my title. I was also responsible for ensuring that devices used for weighing produce and such were consistent, and that no unfair advantages among traders existed in our markets."

"Sounds more like 'Weights and Measures,'" said Dr. Keller, and her smile was now aimed at him. "I'm sure we'll find a place for someone with your expertise."

"Yes, because I like my instrumentation to attack me with wooden spikes," said the man.

Weights and measures? Expertise? If only he did have the ability to take the weight and measure of these people!

Ahead, Ronon finally put up a hand for quiet. Kiryk complied; this was no the way to weigh the goodness in these people, to measure their commitment to a little girl thrust upon them.

There was no way to do so.

THE END

Any and all comments appreciated, here or to helenw at murphnet dot org.


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